It's Gonna Be A Long Night
by GingerWitchWriter
Summary: Hermione has to work late, leaving Ron home alone to deal with the kids bedtime routine. And the kids seem to be on a mission of their own...


_So, I'm back...a little later than I intended (reasons below) but, I am back._

 _Just wanted to explain something...this story was inspired by Paul Thornley (who played Ron Weasley in the original West End run of The Cursed Child and is currently playing him on Broadway) I was watching an interview with The Cursed Child cast and they were asking them what their favourite spell was, Paul asked if there was a spell to make your kids go to bed...and I thought that was SUCH a Ron answer and something I could imagine him saying, that…this little fic was born from it._

 _So, here you go – enjoy!_

* * *

"I suppose I'd better go," Hermione reluctantly left my arms to set her now empty tea cup down on the coffee table as she checked the clock on the mantelpiece above the fireplace.

"I'm not sure who's got the worst deal. You heading off to Azkaban or me dealing with the kids' bedtime routine on my own," I joked lightly.

"You'll be fine," she gave me a smile and patted my chest softly. "I have every faith in you," she added, including a soft kiss before getting to her feet.

I groaned as I stood up too and enveloped my wife in a hug, pressing my lips against her temple. "Promise me you'll be careful," I begged.

Hermione was heading off to Azkaban to question an inmate regarding a current high profile case she and her colleagues were working on. There had been talk of releasing him into the Wizengamot's custody for questioning, but decided eventually that he was too much of a flight risk, hence the need to go to the prison to conduct the interview. With the man in question also being part vampire, the meeting would have to take place at night.

"Harry is coming with me. And I think he's implemented a couple of other Aurors to accompany us," she told me when I released her slightly.

"Well, that makes me feel a little better," I sighed.

"What, you don't think I can take care of myself?" she raised one eyebrow indignantly.

"That's not it," I grinned and kissed the tip of her nose, she was cute when she got all irritated with me. "I'm well aware that you're more than competent as well as being brave and very smart, but it's still not easy knowing your wife is going into that place when I know what evil scum reside in there. So, a few extra eyes on the situation is a good idea." I pulled her to me and kissed her again.

"Everything will be fine," she assured me once extracting herself from my hold again. I really didn't want to let her go tonight. "But, I don't know how long this will take. I could be gone all night," she added as she grabbed her travelling cloak and draped it over herself.

"Just come back to us as soon as you can," I watched her with trepidation as she checked her bag for everything she needed.

"And you make sure the children get to bed on time. They have school in the morning," she needlessly reminded me.

"I'm familiar with the bed time routine, been doing it for years. Thought you said you had faith in me?"

"I do, but our children can be crafty little..."

"Buggers!" I finished for her and we both smiled.

"Yes. Don't fall for any of their games," she patted my chest again and I grabbed her wrist, tugging her closer for another hug and a kiss. "Ron, I really have to go. They'll all be waiting for me and the portkey won't wait."

"I know, I know," I sighed and stepped back, running my fingers through my hair. "Rose! Hugo! Come say goodnight to mummy!" I called to our children who were playing upstairs.

Feet thundered down the stairs amidst squeals and thumps. "Daddy!" Rose told me, exasperated and thrust her hands onto her hips in a perfect imitation of her Mum when she was seriously annoyed with me. "I have told you, I am not Rose. I am Tinker Bell!" and she stomped her foot for good measure.

"Right, sorry," I shook my head.

Hermione's parents had bought the Muggle fancy dress costume for her birthday last weekend. It had been four days now and Rose refused to wear anything else or indeed, answer to anything else whilst wearing it.

"Tinker Bell, come say goodnight to Mummy." Hermione held her arms out for her.

"Night night?" Hugo asked, screwing up his face as he rounded the corner into the lounge. "Is Mummy going to bed now?" he asked.

They had been both slightly confused and yet delighted when Hermione had surprised them by picking them up from school this afternoon. Since it was likely she could be out all night, she'd come home from work early to spend a bit of time with them, have a break and get something to eat. So, it was hardly surprising they didn't understand that she now had to return to work.

"No sweetheart. I have to go back to work, until very late. So, I won't be here when you go to sleep," Hermione explained, crouching down to his level and holding his hands.

"Oh," he looked a little wary about that.

"But, daddy will be here. So he'll give you a bath and read your story and..."

"Will he read me my Stinky Dragon books?" He asked, sulkily.

"Anything you want buddy," I promised him. "Mummy will be back in the morning."

"Oh, okay," he nodded, seemingly fine with that. He placed a slobbery kiss on her cheek, gave her a brief hug and then trotted to his basket of toys in the lounge.

"Why do you have to go to work again?" Rose asked, not easily as placated.

"I have an important meeting. But I promise, I'll be home before you wake up in the morning."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yes," she nodded. "Now, I want you two to be good for your dad. I love you." She hugged Rose and gave me one last fleeting look before stepping into the fireplace.

"Be careful!" I warned again, hating this.

"I will. I love you."

"Love you too," I replied and waved her off in a cloud of green flames.

"So, what can we do now?" Hugo looked up from the pile of toys he was already surrounded by expectantly. They both knew that usually when Mum was out of the house, the three of us got up to a little bit of mischief. Nothing serious, we were just having fun – but the kind of loud, mischievous fun Hermione didn't always approve of.

"We are going to do this!" I pounced on him, plucking him from the floor and spun him around in the air.

He squealed with laughter as Rose clamoured at my side for her turn. By the time I'd made the pair of them, and myself, quite dizzy we settled down to a couple of games before it was time to get dinner on. Since Hermione wasn't home to eat with us, I didn't prepare anything fancy tonight, but both kids seemed pleased with the plates of bangers and mash I set before them.

That was until Hugo spotted the small pile of peas I had added to both their plates. "I don't like peas!" he wrinkled his nose in disgust at them. To be fair, he displayed the same reaction to any and every vegetable presented to him.

"You don't have to eat them all," I told him, placing juice in front of them both before joining them at the table with my own plate.

All was going well so far – dinner was on time, they were tucking in quite well (peas aside) and I felt pretty pleased with myself that it looked like we'd have time to play a bit more before we began bath time. And then Hugo opened his mouth again.

"Dad," he looked up at me, pushing his peas around his plate but none were actually making it to his mouth. "What does shag mean?" he asked, peering up at me quizzically.

I choked on the piece of sausage I had just popped into my mouth, thumping my own chest in hopes of dislodging it and then taking huge gulps of my water.

"I...what?" I asked, wiping tears from my eyes.

"Shag, what's it mean?" he looked at me, pure innocence on his little face.

"It, erm...where did you hear such a word?" I asked.

"Uncle George," he replied matter of factly.

Should have bloody known! I groaned. Hermione might have worried about my own use of bad language once we'd had children, but it had been little Freddie who's first word had been damn. George had tried to convince Mum that he was just trying to say dad, but we all knew the truth. And, George was lucky it was only the word damn that Freddie had mastered.

"Yeah, he said you had probably gone for a shag when we couldn't find you at Granny and Grandpa's on Sunday," Rose helpfully added.

"Stupid bloody git of a brother!" I muttered under my breath.

"So, what's it mean?" Hugo asked again.

"Did you?" Rose wanted to know.

"Did I what?" I asked Rose.

"Go for a shag?"

"NO!" I answered her firmly.

"But, what is it?" Hugo hadn't let it go yet.

"It just, it means, well it's...erm..." I paused, wishing I could disappear or that Hermione was here to answer him.

"Daddy!" he whined, still waiting for answer.

"It's just, erm….it's like, erm...special kissing and cuddling, that only grown ups do," I replied, feeling my ears burning.

"Oh," he looked so disappointed. "I thought it was like an ice cream," he added.

I bit my bottom lip to stifle my laughter – though I suppose there was some pleasure in both things, I thought to myself. "Speaking of ice cream, I want at least half of those peas eaten else there will be no pudding. And I believe there is some ice cream left," I warned him.

"Aaw, don't like them!" he whimpered, flicking them across his plate with his fork.

"I know mate, but they're good for you. Come on, just half of them." It was a struggle to get him to eat any kind of fruit or vegetable, but Hermione had got me on the same page as her in regards to healthy eating for the kids, so he was stuck with veggies of some description at every meal.

By the time I had persuaded him to eat them and we'd had pudding, there was only enough time left for one quick game of Gobstones before bath time.

* * *

"Right, who's going in first?" I yelled as I stood from the side of the tub I had just filled. "Rose? Hugo?" I called my children.

"Not me!" Hugo grunted before he slammed his bedroom door behind him.

I rolled my eyes as I dried my hands after swishing the bath bubbles into the water. Hugo was sulking because Rose had beaten him at the game of Gobstones and then teased him about it.

"Rose!" I called whilst checking my image in the bathroom mirror – I liked to keep an eye on my hairline, given the state of my dad's head of hair, I figured it was only time until I too started going bald – something I secretly feared. "Rose..." I called her again.

"What?" she asked, standing beneath me, peering up.

"Oh, sorry, didn't hear you come in." I turned to face her. She was wearing only her underwear now, along with her Tinker Bell fairy wings. I sighed. "You'll have to take those off to get a bath." I told her.

"Why?" she tilted her head and asked curiously.

"Well, because they'll get wet and you might spoil them. And you don't want that, do you?"

Rose shook her head, but still looked thoughtful. "Then...how do _real_ fairy's have a bath?" she wondered.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I suppose it's their Magic or something," I replied, wondering how on earth my kids managed to draw me into such bizarre conversations.

"But daddy," Rose laughed. "You're magic. You can just make my wings not get wet too."

I inhaled deeply. "I really don't think it works quite like that sweetheart," I replied, even though I thought of a few spells that might work for what she wanted, but I didn't know if I dared try them out. If I ruined her wings, I'd never hear the end of it. "Look, let's just take them off for a bath," I tried to encourage her.

"Nope!" she shook her head. "Real fairies don't take there's off, so I'm not either!" she replied stubbornly, a trait inherited from her Mother.

"Fine!" I gave in. "Give me a shout if you need me," I added as I closed the bathroom door and left her to it. Rose was now getting to that age where she insisted she could manage a bath on her own and was also starting to get embarrassed about being seen naked. So, I respected her privacy and left her to it.

I poked my head around Hugo's bedroom door and saw him sat on the floor, playing with his dragons and a fire engine quite happily, then retreated across the hall to mine and Hermione's bedroom to finish folding the clean laundry I had taken up there earlier. I had just set the charms in motion so the clothes folded themselves and was about to lay on the bed for a moment with my Quidditch monthly magazine, when…

"Aargh! Daddy!" Came Rose's scream from the bathroom.

I charged back down the hallway. "What? What's happened?" I asked, thinking she'd hurt herself or some other kind of emergency.

"They got wet!" she cried, peering over her shoulder at her wings as she sat in the bathtub.

"Well," I began, resisting the urge to roll my eyes again, "I did warn you. Come on, let's get them off." I helped her off with the wings and hung them over the towel rack where I performed a quick drying spell on them. "Now, finish getting washed, I've still got to get your brother in yet." I left the bathroom again and went to find Hugo. "Hey buddy," I sat on his bed, "how about you get undressed ready for your bath?" I asked.

"Nu-uh," he shook his head. "Not getting a bath," he replied, never stopping his game of the dragons stamping all over his toy trucks.

"Why not?" I asked.

"'Cause I don't want to," he responded, using five year old logic.

"But Hugo, you got all the stinky Gobstones goo on you, and..."

"Don't care!" he shrugged, his back to me.

"But, you'll be a bit smelly."

"Don't care!" he repeated.

"Hugo, I think mummy will care when she has to come home to a smelly little boy. And I think you'll care when none of your friends want to play with you at school tomorrow because they think you're stinky."

"I'm not stinky!" he turned to look at me, rather affronted.

"You are right now, mate," I held my nose. "Pooh...what a terrible smell!" I joked. "Think we'd better open a window in here!"

"Daddy!" he whined and got to his feet, barrelling his little body into me in one movement. "Stop it!" He shoved against my legs.

"Eurgh, get away from me stinky boy!" I told him as I playfully pushed him away.

"Daddy!" he pushed back. "Oh, all right, I'll get a bath." he sighed, reluctantly and began to pull his clothes off.

"Good boy," I patted the top of his head. "Rose, two more minutes!" I called to her.

A couple of minutes later, Rose left a trail of bubbly foot prints as she wandered, clad in a towel, back to her room. I led Hugo into the bathroom and picked him up to place him in the tub.

"Eurgh! Gross! I'm not going in her stinky bum water!" he shrieked and pulled away from me.

"It doesn't stink, it's fine."

"Nope!" he wriggled out of my arms and backed away from the bath.

"Come on, you two always share the water," I rubbed my tired eyes. It wasn't even seven yet and I was exhausted, plus I had a hundred and one things I needed to do before I could take myself to bed.

"I want clean water!" he demanded, arms tightly folded across his chest.

"Fine!" I groaned and vanished the dirty water, before starting to refill the tub.

Eventually, after my son had succeeded in practically flooding the bathroom and soaking me with his playful antics, I got them both into their pyjamas and into bed.

I had to leave Rose to entertain herself for a bit whilst I went to settle Hugo and read him a story. Usually, when we were both home, Hermione would read to one of the children whilst I read to the other, swapping over the following night. But tonight Rose would have to wait her turn.

"Right mister, which book are we reading tonight?" I asked, waiting for him to shuffle over so I could perch on the edge of his bed.

"Erm...this one!" he decided and slapped it onto my lap. "The dragon's really stinky day one!" he giggled.

"Okay," I sighed inwardly – this was a bedtime favourite and I could probably read it from memory without the book. I got about five pages in when Hugo changed his mind.

"Nope!" he slammed the book closed on my hand, "not that one," he pulled it away from me and slung the book onto the floor. I winced, knowing Hermione would have a meltdown at how he was treating books – she'd taught our children better than that. "This one," he handed me a new book and grinned up at me.

"You're sure?" I checked before I opened it to the first page.

"Yep," he nodded. "I want to hear about Dinky and the picnic!" he clapped his hands together. Most of his books were from the same series – short silly stories all featuring a particularly stinky dragon named Dinky. Our son adored them.

"Right," I began again. This time I only got as far as the third page, when he tried to pull it away from me again.

"Nope, wrong one!" he giggled.

"Hugo!" I groaned, figuring out what he was up to – this was all a ploy to delay bedtime. "Look, stop messing about. It's bedtime and daddy has a hundred jobs to do before he can even think about going to bed himself," I complained.

"You do?" he tilted his head and looked at me curiously. "What jobs?"

"I have to pack your school lunches, put some laundry on, put some laundry away and then do some work for the shop...look, never mind. Just stop messing about. I'm reading this book or I read none at all, right?" I warned him.

"Okay," he pouted and slumped against my arm.

"Good," I ruffled his hair and began to read again as I wrapped an arm around him.

This time we made it through the entire book and I set it back down on his bedside table. "Now, night night, sweet dreams," I kissed his forehead and tucked him in as he shuffled down under his covers. "See you in the morning, buddy," I smiled, turning off his light, leaving him with the floating night lights and closed his door.

I took a deep breath then before heading down the hall to Rosie's room. She was sat on the floor, arranging all her stuffed toys just so. "Hey missy, you're supposed to be in bed!"

She looked up at me, giggled and then ran to her bed, quickly pulling the covers up over her head, giggling even more.

I shook my head and grinned at her when she peaked out at me from the covers. "What do you want to read tonight?" I asked her, picking up some stray toys from the floor and tossing them into her toy box.

"Daddy, do you think my wings are dry now?" she asked.

"Er, yeah, probably," I replied, closing her curtains and folding a blanket that had been thrown into a corner. "But you can't wear them in bed."

"Oh," she pouted.

"You can put them on again tomorrow, after school. Now, which book do you want?" I asked, sitting on her bed and looking at the pile she had on her bedside table. It closely resembled the pile that usually sat beside Hermione's side of our bed.

"When's Mummy coming home?" she asked me.

"Late." I answered simply. "Now, which book..."

"Why's she got to be late?" she asked again.

"Because your Mum has an important job to do." I poked her nose gently. "Come on Rose, your Dad is tired. What are we reading?" I yawned.

She looked up at me then. "You do look very tired!" she nodded as she agreed with me. "I can read my own book tonight," she decided and pulled one randomly from her pile.

"Oh, really?" I asked. I knew she could read some words now, I had to listen to her read her school books most nights after all. But, I knew she struggled with it a bit.

"Yes. I am a big girl!" she answered candidly.

"Fair enough, if that's what you want." I kissed her forehead and tucked her in. "Night night then, and sweet dreams." I cast a countdown charm on her light. "Your lamp will turn out in 15 minutes, then you go to sleep. I'll be up to check" I warned her. "See you in the morning sweetheart."

"Night daddy," she smiled as she sat up in bed and cracked open her book. And once again, I was reminded of how much she resembled her Mum.

Sighing in tired relief I headed back downstairs, deciding that first I would put the laundry on, otherwise there would be no clean uniforms for school, then make a cup of tea before tackling those shop accounts. I groaned at the thought. I suspected it was going to be a long night.

* * *

With the laundry charmed to complete a full cycle by itself (including the ironing and folding – a rather useful tip I had picked up from my Mum) I took a seat at the partner desk Hermione and I shared in our study. I took a loud slurp of tea, set my mug down and then opened the ledger for the shop, hoping to catch up on last weeks accounts before George had my head.

I had barely started, when the door creaked open a crack. "Daddy?" Hugo whispered loudly.

I held my head in my hand and closed my eyes – I suppose it had been too much to hope that I had actually settled both of the children in bed only ten minutes after their usual bedtime. "Hugo?" I looked up and waited for his excuse.

He grinned, realising he wasn't going to be told off, as he pushed the door open wider and sauntered into the room. "I'm really, really thirsty!" he told me.

"You are huh?" I asked, remembering the two glasses of pumpkin juice he'd had with his dinner and then the glass of milk after his bath.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Very...my throats all dry," he grasped his throat for dramatic effect.

"S'pose I'd best get you a drink then, right?" I asked him, getting up from the desk.

"Yep!" he giggled and followed me back to the kitchen.

I half filled a glass with water for him and handed it over.

"Thanks dad!" he took it from me and was about to head back upstairs with it.

"Ah ah! You know the rules," I stopped him. "Drink that down here." He'd been banned from taking drinks to bed because he managed to knock them over so often, soaking his bed and waking himself up in the process.

He stood still and gulped down some of the water, before handing the glass back to me with a loud gasp and another cheeky grin.

"Right, back to bed now!" I walked him back up the stairs and into his room. Got him back under the covers, kissed his forehead again and left his room, closing the door behind me. I turned to head back downstairs, then realised that Rose's bedroom light was still on. That should have turned out ten minutes ago. I peaked into her room, hoping to see her fast asleep and just maybe my charm hadn't been performed correctly. But, instead she was stood tearing furiously through a bedroom drawer, flinging clothes everywhere. "Rose!" She shot about a foot in the air as I startled her. "What in Merlin's name are you doing?"

"I can't find my pink socks!" she told me, turning her attention back to the drawer.

"Rose," I gave a long, drawn out sigh and stepped into her room, "it's bed time, what do you need with socks at this time of night? And why is this light still on?" I wondered.

"Oh, I don't know. It didn't go off," she replied, avoiding eye contact. "Didn't know my time was up. But, I need these socks." She threw another pile of clothes out of the drawer.

"What's so important about them?" I wondered.

"I have to wear them to school tomorrow. I told Maisie that I had some just the same as hers and she didn't believe me, so I have to wear them to show her," she explained.

"And you couldn't have found them earlier?" I wondered, since this was apparently so important to her.

"I forgot," she shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and began picking up the clothes she'd thrown out. "Get into bed, I'll find them," I told her. I used a quick spell to tidy everything back into her drawer and then attempted to summon her pink socks.

Only, I hadn't considered the fact that she had many, many pairs of pink socks, so when I muttered 'accio pink socks', I was suddenly pelted with dozens of the things, which sent Rose into a fit of the giggles.

"There you go," I grimaced, tossing her a random pair and gathering the rest up.

"No," she shook her head, "these are the ones with the lace. I need the ones with the little bow on."

"Does it really matter?" I groaned.

"Yes!" she shrieked. "These aren't the same as Maisie's at all!"

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes again, begging for patience before searching through the pile of socks I now had in my arms. "There, is that them?" I asked, tossing another pair to her lap and tipping the rest back into her now overflowing drawer.

"Oh, yes! Thank you daddy!" she knelt up in bed and flung her arms around my waist.

"Right, glad that's sorted. Now, bed time." I got her to lay down, kissed her goodnight and shut off her light before closing her door and heading back downstairs.

I was finally getting into my work, had been hard at it for at least the last 20 minutes, when I heard feet thundering down the stairs again. I looked up towards the door, waiting to see which one it was this time.

Rose crashed the door open, almost tripping over herself to get inside. "Daddy!" she gasped, leaning on the desk. "I forgot...to feed...Elsa!" she panted, breathless from her panicked sprint downstairs.

"You did, huh?" I asked, twirling my quill between my fingers. "A good job I already gave her our left overs then, isn't it?"

"Oh!" she sagged in relief.

"Besides, last time I saw her, she was chasing a spider in the hallway." I shuddered at the memory and hoped she'd caught the little bugger.

"Oh, oh...that's good!" she smiled.

"Now, since I usually give her our left overs, was this just some excuse to come downstairs?" I wondered, suspiciously.

"No!" she gave me the perfect look of innocence.

"Hmm," I didn't quite believe her, but decided not to pursue the matter. I wasn't in the mood for arguing with my seven year old daughter tonight. "Come on then, back up to bed, now you know your pet isn't going to die from starvation," I got up and put my hand gently on her back, guiding her towards the stairs. "What's this?" I asked, feeling something in the hand she was hiding behind her back.

She looked up at me alarmed as I took it from her. "I...I found it. It was on the stairs and...I just picked it up," she lied. I knew she was lying from the way she was rubbing her foot back and forth across the carpet and avoiding eye contact – it was always a tell-tale sign with my daughter.

"Oh, really?" I set my Deluminator on the desk.

She nodded, still staring at the floor.

"Did you use this to turn your bedroom light back on, after the timer I set on it ran out?" I asked.

"No," she shook her head as she peaked up at me through her fringe. And then, as I kept staring at her in silence, "Yes," she admitted meekly. "But, I just, I wanted to...you left it in my room!" she insisted.

"I don't think I did," I replied, knowing that it usually sat on my bedside table. "Did you go into mine and mummy's room and take it?"

She nodded sadly. "Sorry daddy. I just needed to find the socks," she looked up at me with a big pout on her face.

I sighed and rubbed her head. "You know, if you had asked me, we could have found the socks before your bath or something. You don't have to sneak about and take things that don't belong to you. You know better than that, right?"

"I'm really sorry daddy," she looked so sad.

"Right, well off to bed with you," I kissed her again on top of her head. "And I don't want another peep out of you tonight." I sent her back upstairs, trusting she'd put herself to bed.

"Night daddy," she mumbled, trudging out of the study.

I had barely closed the door when I heard a strange sound coming from out in the hallway. I poked my head out of the door, trying to work out what it was – it almost reminded me of when the children had been infants – those little sniffs and sobs before the real wailing started. And then I realised what it was.

"Daddy!" Rose called back down. "Hugo's crying," she told me.

I hurried up the stairs, taking them two at a time to get to my son, wondering what had happened to him and hoping he hadn't hurt himself or wasn't coming down with anything.

"He's there," Rose needlessly pointed to his bedroom doorway, where he was sat on the floor, sobbing his little heart out.

"Okay Rosie, I got it. Off to bed," I turned her around and set her to her room before swooping down and gathering Hugo in my arms. "What's wrong buddy?" I asked him, rubbing his back to calm him down. "You feeling okay?" I felt for his forehead, but it felt fine.

He nodded his little head and sniffled against my T-shirt – no doubt leaving a snot trail there. "Can'tfindblaze," he mumbled against my shoulder.

"Huh?" I asked him, having missed that.

He raised his head to look at me. "I can't find Blaze," he whimpered a little clearer as I wiped the tears from his face. "He's not anywhere!" he threw his arms out to emphasise the fact. "And...I can't...I can't go to sleep without him!" His bottom lip wobbled and my heart went out to my little boy as he lay his head on my shoulder again.

I kissed the top of his head and rubbed his back as I walked further into his room. "I thought he was already in bed with you?" I looked towards the mound of cuddly toys already crammed into his bed. "He's there, isn't he?" I peered down for the little red dragon – his favourite and oldest stuffed dragon.

He shook his head sadly. "No, that's Sparky! Blaze is gone!" he sniffed again.

"Right," I set Hugo on the bed, "we'd best find him then. Can you remember when you were last playing with him?" I asked, crouching down to his level.

"Erm..." he swiped his hand across his nose, leaving another snot trail along his cheek – I hoped he wasn't getting a cold or something. "This morning," he mumbled as I summoned a tissue and wiped his face. "I wanted to take him to school, but Mummy said no," he told me sadly.

We dealt with this issue a lot – Hugo often wanted to take toys to school and we had to discourage him against doing so. A lot of it was because many of his toys were magical or items from the shop which would obviously raise too many questions. But, some of it was simply because we knew if he took them to school and some of the other kids weren't as careful with them, he'd be heartbroken if any of his prized possessions got ruined.

"Okay, and you've looked all over your room? He's not under the covers or the bed or something?" I checked.

He shook his head. "He's no where!" he looked sad again.

I stood up and sighed, running a hand through my already dishevelled hair, wondering where to start. With the amount of toy dragons my son had, it was useless casting the summoning charm for Blaze – it would just be a repeat of the socks. But what else could I do? "Right, you stay here and search your room again," I told him, patting his shoulder, "and I'll go check the rest of the house. We'll find him, I promise," I assured our son who looked up at me hopefully.

Now, at almost 8pm at night, running around trying to find a toy dragon wasn't my idea of fun – but needs must. First of all, I tore apart mine and Hermione's room – knowing the kids often brought things in there when they came in for cuddles and stuff – it just seemed to be a room that things conglomerated in for some reason. I found Rose's missing shoe from last weekend. I found last months copy of Quidditch Monthly I had accused Hermione of throwing out before I was finished reading it. And I found, inexplicably, a half eaten sandwich which Elsa was happily snacking away on. How that had got in there and how long it had been there, I had no idea.

But, there was no bright red stuffed toy dragon. I went to Rose's room, who was still awake listening to all this going on, and asked her if she'd seen it. She swore she hadn't. I went downstairs and looked all over the lounge, picking up cushions and blankets, even moving the seat cushions and whilst I found many a toy scattered here and there, no stuffed dragons. I went back into the study and had a quick glance around, but doubted it would have been in there - the kids weren't allowed in when we weren't there – too many important documents laying around.

I went back into the hallway, ready to search the kitchen, when I spied something red sticking out from the pile of junk shoved under the stairs. It was stuff we had every intention of putting away properly later and yet somehow never did – at least not until the pile overflowed and we had no other choice. But there, between the kids school bags, old scarf's, Wellington boots and boxes of Muggle items I was supposed to take over to my dad, was the dragon, half buried in the pile. He must have gotten shoved there after Hermione put her foot down about Hugo taking it to school this morning. Sighing with relief, I snatched him up and ran back upstairs with him.

"Look who I found," I said, poking the toys head around his bedroom door.

"BLAZE!" Hugo squealed with joy and leapt out of bed to hug the stuffed creature. "Oh, thank you, thank you daddy!" he flung his arms around me too. "I thought he was losted forever," he whimpered.

"Well, he's safe now and pretty tired from his adventures, so I think it's time you both settled down and went to sleep."

Hugo nodded in agreement, stifling a yawn as I got him back into bed. I tucked him in again, kissed him and the dragon when requested to do so.

"Right, now sleepy time, okay?" I switched his light out again and closed his door.

I checked my watch as I headed for the family bathroom, needing the loo before I went back downstairs to get stuck into that paperwork and realising that whole drama had lost me half an hour.

Coming out after I was done, I was met with Rose waiting for me. "You're supposed to be in bed, going to sleep!" I groaned – why were they being so obnoxious about this tonight? They were never usually this bad when their mum was home.

"But daddy, I need to ask you something important," she began.

"Fine," I brushed my hair back. "What is it?"

"What would happen if Mummy loved Uncle Harry and not you?" she asked.

"Huh? What?" I asked. Where the hell had that come from? "Why are you...what are you on about?" I wondered, not for the first time, how kids brains worked.

"Well," she began, rather seriously, "you and mummy and Uncle Harry were all friends at school, and you said that was when you felled in love with mummy and she felled in love with you. But, what if mummy had loved Uncle Harry instead?" she wondered.

"Rosie," I put my hand to my head. "I don't even know...why are you asking me this?"

She shrugged. "I was just thinking about it," she replied.

"Well, don't think about it anymore. Mummy loves me and not Uncle Harry, not in the same way anyway. So nothing to worry about." I walked her back to her bedroom.

"Oh." she replied. "But what if she..."

"Not tonight Rose!" I almost snapped at her. "Now...get into bed. And please, for Merlin's sake, go to sleep!"

"Okay," she pouted as I put her back to bed and tucked her in, again.

"Now, night night," I repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.

Leaving her room, about to head back downstairs, Hugo came running out of his room again. "Now what?" I raised my voice, without meaning to.

"I...I...I just forgot to say night night daddy," he looked up at me forlornly.

"Right, okay," I rubbed my tired eyes. "Well, you've said it now, so back to bed."

"And I want to tell Mummy night night," he continued.

"She's not here, remember? Mum will be home really late. Besides, you told her night night earlier," I reminded him.

"I did?" he screwed his face up in question.

"Yes. Before she went back to work," I added, walking him back to his room.

"Oh. She get back from work soon?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly, knowing what she was doing could take some time. "But, I know if you don't go to bed and go to sleep right now, she might never come home!" I threatened.

"Really?" His big brown eyes – the perfect replica's of Hermione's - widened in horror.

"Yes," I nodded, feeling slightly guilty for lying to my kids. "Now, get into bed, stay there and go to sleep! Please!" I added, wondering if there was any spell that would actually make my kids go to sleep. I mean, I knew there was a sleeping draught, but I don't think my wife would appreciate it if she knew I had drugged our kids. Other than that, I couldn't think of anything – maybe that was a new line of products George and I could work on. Something like that would sell like hotcakes with every parent in the Wizarding World desperate to make the bed time routine stress free.

"All right daddy," he sighed and yawned again as he climbed into his bed. "Night night."

"Night night," I replied as I tucked him in. I then made a brisk exit from his room and actually made it down stairs this time.

Back in the study, I sat back down at the desk, opened the ledger and stared at it for a few good minutes, willing the energy to deal with all the facts and figures. "Bugger it!", I slammed the book closed and heaved a huge sigh. "I can't do this now." I gave up on it as a bad idea. I knew it meant I knew I'd probably have to spend an entire day stuck in the office tomorrow, but I couldn't face it anymore tonight – it was now rather late and I was too tired to concentrate. Instead I went into the kitchen to sort out the kids lunch boxes for school the next day and checked on the laundry. With those jobs out of the way, I got myself a snack and headed into the lounge.

I sank gratefully into the sofa, spreading out along it's length as I cracked open a Butterbeer and tore open the bag of crisps I'd found. I flicked the wireless on with my wand and found a programme on that I often enjoyed and just revelled in having a few minutes of relaxation and not being disturbed. Only, I must have relaxed a little too much, because I nodded off. I woke to find the radio still playing to itself and my son, inches from my nose, staring at me.

"Bloody hell!" I gasped, darting back from his face.

"That's a bad word, daddy!" he told me. "I hungry," he added.

"What?" I rubbed my tired face. "Haven't you been to sleep yet?"

"Oh yes," he nodded. "I went to sleep, but then my tummy woke me up and told me it was hungry." He held his arms around his stomach for emphasis. "I think it needs a biscuit. Or some crisps," he decided, eyeing my empty packet.

"No," I decided, swinging my legs off the couch. "I've had enough of this. Upstairs, into bed and go to sleep!" I told him firmly, pointing towards the staircase.

"But, I'm..."

"Go. To. Sleep!" I repeated, getting up to take him myself if needs be.

"Okay," he sulked and trudged as slowly as possible.

Shaking my head slowly, I rubbed my face yet again and yawned before getting up off the sofa. I switched the radio off and took my stuff through to the kitchen where I made sure everything was shut down, locked and secure before heading upstairs myself. It was time for a shower and bed, I decided.

Hugo was in his room when I checked, even in bed, but he wasn't asleep. Where the bloody hell was he getting his energy from? I decided not to interact with him, hoping that giving him no attention would make him give in and sleep. And just as I was about to step into my room, Rose popped her head out of her door.

"What is wrong with you kids tonight?" I asked, flabbergasted. I'd lost count of the number of times I had put them to bed now.

"My beds cold," she grumbled.

"Well, it will be if you keep getting out of it. Go to bed Rose." I pointed to her room.

"But..."

"Bed!" I repeated firmly before going into my room.

I managed to get a quick shower with no further interruption and was wandering around the master bedroom with just a towel around my waist, putting stuff away and looking for clean pyjamas when Hugo poked his head in again.

"Bed!" I told him.

"But...I, I had a bad dream," he whimpered. "I scared," he pouted at me.

I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes. I was _this_ close to giving the kid a sleeping draught. "Hugo, you weren't even asleep ten minutes ago. Am I supposed to believe that in the few minutes it took me to have a shower, you actually fell asleep, had a bad dream and got woken up from it?"

"Yes," he nodded, standing in my doorway, holding Blaze by the tail in one hand.

"Oh Hugo," I groaned. "Daddy is really tired. Please, just go to bed, close your eyes and sleep. I've had enough tonight."

"But, I..."

"No! No more games or excuses – bed now!" I walked him across the hall, into his room and into bed before going back to my room and closing the door tightly behind me.

Sliding between the sheets that night felt like luxury. It had been one hell of a long day. Before the kids had taken it upon themselves to try to drive me insane tonight, there had been Hermione's surprising announcement that she had to spend the night working at Azkaban. I tried not to worry about her, knowing she could easily look after herself and that she probably had more knowledge than all the Aurors there, besides Harry obviously. But it was hard not to be concerned – I had first hand knowledge of the kind of scum locked up in that place and I didn't trust them one little bit.

And before all that, it had been a horrid day at work, starting off with a missing order I'd spent the best part of the morning chasing up. Followed by shop lifting thieving little gits I'd had to chase after down the Alley and then a whole display shelf had collapsed. This caused an entire box of Wildfire Whiz-Bangs to ignite and explode everywhere, set off a crate full of Fanged Frisbees zooming all over the shop and stunk out the place with a smashed pile of Dungbombs. It had taken hours to clean the mess up, so I'd been grateful when Hermione's owl had arrived to say she'd collect the kids from school.

Once I got settled in bed, I picked up a magazine, intending to read for a bit. But as my eyes kept closing and I read the same line over and over again, I gave it up as a bad idea, tossed the magazine on the floor and turned out the lamps.

Only then it was hard to get comfortable and sleep wouldn't come easily. The bed felt too big on my own. I'd never admit to this to anyone, but I missed my wife. It was incredibly rare, at least since I'd quit being an Auror, that we spent the night apart. If we weren't in bed together at night, we were at least in the same house. I sighed and rolled over, trying not to think about it, knowing she'd be home soon and that I was just being a prat.

Eventually, I managed to nod off and was just in that state between falling into a deep sleep and yet still being aware of what was around you, when I felt it. Someone was shaking my foot.

"Daddy..." Hugo whispered loudly. "Dad...daddy….dad!" he repeated over and over. I ignored him, hoping if he thought he couldn't wake me, he'd give up and go back to bed. Why they were playing me up so much tonight, I didn't know. I knew they both thought I was the soft touch – Hermione dealt with more of the discipline than I did – I was somewhat more of the fun parent, but they were never usually this badly behaved with me.

"Daddy...Dad!" he sobbed louder and smacked my foot under the covers.

"What?" I eventually groaned, realising he wasn't going to give in.

"I heard a noise!" he whispered, "in my room..." he sounded afraid.

"It's just the wind Hu, go back to bed."

"No," he whimpered. "I think….think it's monsters, like...maybe an Erkling or something. It's going to eat me!" he shrieked and jumped as the wind rattled the windows again.

I sighed internally. I knew Hermione shouldn't have read the Fantastic Beasts book to him yet – he was too young to hear about some of the creepier beasts out there.

"Can you go get it?" he asked, hopefully.

"Get in," I told him, pulling up the other side of the duvet.

"Huh?" he sounded confused now – I couldn't see much in the dark.

"Get into bed with Dad, no one will dare come and get you if you're with me," I promised him.

"Okay," he sounded much happier and I heard his feet scamper across the room as he climbed in on his Mum's usual side of the bed. He giggled as he wiggled into place and pulled the covers over himself. "This is fun dad!"

"Uh huh. But right now, mouth closed, eyes shut and go to sleep!" I told him.

"Okay!" he whispered loudly.

After a bit of jiffling around restlessly, he actually settled and mercifully went to sleep. I wasn't far behind him in nodding off and we were both probably snoring when I felt a prod against my shoulder.

"Dad! Dad!" Rose hissed as she prodded me each time.

"What?" I eventually mumbled, eyes still closed, face pressed into my pillow.

"My head hurts," she then whined.

I sighed, knowing that was probably from being up so late. "Get in," I lifted the bed clothes.

"Huh?" she asked.

"Get in the bed," I told her. "You can sleep here."

I missed the little grin she gave as she clambered onto the bed and crawled over me eagerly. Sleeping in the big bed was something of a treat and not something we really encouraged – after all, Hermione and I needed some privacy.

"And don't wake your brother," I warned.

"Okay," she whispered back.

"Now, be quiet and go to sleep," I sighed, rolling over and getting comfortable again.

And, eventually, at almost midnight, the house was quiet and the occupants were all fast asleep.

* * *

Hermione stepped from the floo, failing to stifle a huge yawn. Still, she was entitled to feel tired, she decided as she noted the time on the clock above the fireplace – almost 4.30am – it had certainly been a long night. So, without further ado, she dropped her bag and cloak in the hallway and crept quietly upstairs to bed, not wanting to wake her family.

Using stealth acquired during her years of the war, she pushed open the door to the marital bedroom and walked straight into the chair she hadn't seen in the darkness. "Ouch! Damn!" she hissed and rubbed her now sore knee.

"You just getting home?" a sleepy voice asked her.

"Yes," she replied to the shadow she presumed was her husband in bed. "Sorry, I didn't want to wake you."

Ron shrugged and then looked over his shoulder, suggesting he hadn't been getting much sleep anyway. Hermione followed his line of vision and as her eyes adjusted to the darkened room, she caught sight of her son and daughter, both asleep in their bed.

The bed clothes were practically on the floor and Rose, in her purple pygmy puff pajamas lay spread eagled, almost like a star fish with her arms and legs spread out. As for Hugo, adorable in his bright orange Chuddly Cannons pajamas, he was asleep for some inexplicable reason at the bottom of the bed, sideways, with his legs across Ron's feet.

Ron himself was squeezed right on the edge of the bed, almost being kicked out of his own bed by both children and obviously not comfortable.

"Looks like you had a busy night," she smiled and leant over to offer her husband a kiss.

"Something like that," he muttered in reply, accepting her kiss gratefully, filled with relief to see her home safe.

"Be right back," she promised, grabbing a nightdress from her drawer and stepped into the bathroom.

She emerged moments later, dressed in the nightdress now and tying her hair back. Then, with a tired sigh, bent to pick up Hugo first.

"Don't!" Ron hissed.

"What? Why?" Hermione looked at him.

"It took bloody ages to get them to sleep tonight, don't wake them," he begged.

"But," Hermione straightened up and put a hand on her hip, "where amI supposed to sleep?" she asked him.

Ron thought about it for less than a moment, then carefully untangled his feet from Hugo's and climbed from the bed. "Ssh!" he whispered, a finger to his lips before he grabbed a blanket and placed it over Hugo as Hermione covered Rose with another. Then, he took his wife's hand and led her from the bedroom, leaving the children to sleep.

"Where are we going? I'm exhausted Ron and..." she stopped as Ron opened the door to their spare guest room and then smiled as she understood.

Sliding into bed together, Ron took Hermione into his arms and snuggled up with her. "Hmm, much better," he sighed happily.

"What?" she asked.

"I don't like sleeping alone," he admitted with a little shrug as he kissed his wife's forehead.

"Is that why the children were in bed with you?" she wondered, teasingly.

"The reason they were in bed with me is a very long story," he groaned. "Did everything go all right for you?" he promptly changed the subject.

"Yes. Well eventually. How about you? Did everything go all right here?" she asked, curiously.

"Yeah, eventually," he answered vaguely.

She sighed and burrowed further against Ron's chest, getting comfortable in the slightly smaller bed of the guest bedroom. "At least I don't have to go into work until after lunch," she muttered.

"I'll take the kids to school, then might decide to work from home," Ron mumbled in reply. "And catch up on some sleep," he added as they both yawned and eventually succumbed to sleep in the somewhat cramped quarters of the spare bed whilst their children slept on, blissfully unaware, completely sprawled out in their parents huge bed.

* * *

 _Thank you for reading, if you enjoyed it, it would make me smile if you could take the time to leave me a review. After all, a fanfic writer asks for no other payment than that!_

 _As for reasons for the delay in me posting more fics...one nice thing is I was away and pre-occupied with planning the trip for awhile – I went to visit NYC for my first time and it was awesome! Something else is the weather – we've been having a heatwave in the UK for the last 2 or 3 weeks and since no normal house (unless you're super rich) has air con in the UK, it's just been too hot to sit and type at a computer for long – so took me longer to edit._

 _And, thirdly...the reason for the delay...I had a review that really knocked my confidence. I know, it's dumb – you can get 20 amazing reviews and yet get just one person that doesn't like it for whatever reason and they leave you a review and all self esteem has gone. I realised that I can't let one person spoil something I enjoy doing, but it took me awhile to get the nerve to post anything again (so, please be kind!) and I realise that not everyone is going to like what you put out there. But, the thing is, us fanfic writers post stuff for your entertainment for free. We may write for ourselves (I know I do) but, we take the time to edit and post for your entertainment and we get nothing back but a few kind words if we're lucky. So, just consider that when leaving reviews. Writers are somewhat fragile souls and whilst we can take some constructive criticism or point out a mistake we made, think like Thumper – if you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all._

 _Thank you._


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